“Acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one”, according to the Harvard Business Review.
This percentage does not take into account the time and resources spent in addition to the monetary cost! Clever cost-effective strategies for keeping customers coming back are outlined in this Customer Retention Guide. Let’s take a look at what these company leaders have learned along the way.
1. Help Customers Stay Informed and Committed by Educating and Them
Micheal Fischer, Founder Elite HRT
Making the information about your brand easy and accessible to see is key to retention. At Elite HRT, we have a blog dedicated to educating people about the different aspects of hormone replacement therapy and the myths surrounding it, so people can leave more informed and ready to commit to an appointment. People are also more likely to come back to services they are more educated about, so be sure to educate your returning customers, even when they are “experts”.
2. Use Internal Data to Understand Who your Customer is and How You Can Serve Them Better
Brandon Monaghan, Co-Founder Miracle Brand
We rely on internal data to learn more about our current customers. Analyzing the aggregate data enables us to serve the customers we already have, understanding what is working for them, who they are, and what they want. By doing this, retention improves, and we are better informed when acquiring new customers.
3. Set Expectations so Customers Know They are Getting What They Paid For
Jordan Nathan, CEO Caraway
The key to customer retention is proper setting of expectations. When the expectations are properly set, it makes the customer feel like they are getting what they paid for. If the expectations are not properly set, many customers will be upset about the services and products that they receive.
4. Deliver an Excellent User Experience to Ensure Customers Can Find What They Need
Ben Teicher, President/CEO Healthy Directions
Make sure that your website’s user experience is perfected and that your prospects and customers have an easy time finding what they need. Since online users’ attention spans are so short, this is really important in order to keep them engaged. People will most likely come back to purchase from websites that are easier to use rather than ones that are not.
5. Give Personalized Customer Support
Sara Shah, Co-Founder & Co-CEO Journ
Customer service should always be a top priority. This includes being available on social media, having several ways customers can contact your business for help, and being responsive when they do contact you. Offering personalized customer support when they’re facing unique challenges can make a huge difference in whether you retain them as a customer. I offer one-on-one support calls via voice or video if a customer is struggling to use a product or needs recommendations. This level of personalized support goes a long way in not only serving our customers, but retaining them as well.
6. Make Every Customer Experience Positive
Amber Theurer, Chief Marketing Officer ivee
Focusing on a positive customer experience is just as important as focusing on your sales rates. Closing a sale does not guarantee that someone will become a repeat customer. In order to retain long-term customers, let them know that you value their business as well as their feedback. After they’ve purchased your product or service, send them a warm and grateful thank you email. Let them know that your company is willing to support them with any questions or concerns. Invite feedback as well, through directing them to where they can leave a review or or through conducting a survey. This will both show that you value their feedback and it will give you useful insights into any ways in which you can improve the customer experience going forward.
7. Automate Marketing to Engage or Re-Engage Customers
Benjamin Smith, Founder Disco
Using marketing automation to keep customers engaged or re-engage them can greatly help with customer retention. Automating things like marketing emails and texts about sales or promos, event notifications, drip emails that are educational, etc. can save so much time and offer better retention.
8. Drive Customers Back to You by Creating Communities Outside of Your Site
Brian Halligan, CEO HubSpot
Your focus should include creating communities outside of your site for people to connect with you, your products, and others within the community. Ultimately, this ‘outside’ focus will drive people back to your site.
9. Implement a Multi-buy or Subscription Discount
Aidan Cole, CEO TatBrow
Consumers are changing their buying behaviors and becoming more adventurous when trying new brands, so it can be harder to retain customers. Offer a discount for multi-buying or a subscription service. If customers are buying more than one product that lasts them a month, they will be using it longer, creating a habit and need in their lives. They may also give the additional units away- free marketing and possibly new customers.
10. Offer Incentives for Customer Feedback
Courtney Buhler, CEO & Founder Sugarlash PRO
If you want to retain customers, try asking them to complete a survey about their experience and use their feedback to improve your business. You’ll likely get more responses if you offer an incentive like a coupon, free gift, or gift card. You can highlight responses you’ve received and used to implement change on your website, social media, and in emails to let customers know that their feedback actually does matter.
11. Actively Monitor Retention To Avoid a Retention Problem
Dan Wolchonok, Head of Data Reforge
Retention problems sneak up on you. You need to be actively monitoring retention cohorts even when retention is going up and to the right.
12. Provide an Amazing First Impression so Customers Feel Valued From the Start
Annabel Love, Co-Founder & COO Nori Press
Customer retention is key to maintaining your profits, as it costs less to keep current customers happy then continuously try to gain new customers. Customer retention starts with the service you provide and first impressions, so it’s important to make sure every customer feels amazing while working with your brand. There are so many little things you can do to make a customer happy and feel special, which can make them keep coming back.
13. Enrich the Customer Experience by Providing Superior Service Gaining Loyalty
Chris Gadek, Head of Growth AdQuick
The key to customer retention is providing superior customer service. Enriching the customer experience through going above and beyond with customer service turns a customer into a loyal brand advocate. Focus on providing the best customer experience possible to your customers and watch your customer retention grow.
14. Increase Social Media Marketing to Develop and Maintain Customers
Tirzah Shirah, CEO and Founder BlinkBar
One of the biggest struggles with modern day businesses is creating and retaining brand loyalty. In this last year, we have noticed an uptick in brand loyalty due to the increase in social media marketing across all industries. Because of this we have switched from focusing heavily on developing consumers to maintaining existing customers. Increasing consumer retention rates is much more cost effective than the latter, and thankfully produces a much higher profit rate.
